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Health Care

How Hato Hone St. John Reached 90% Performance Conversation Participation and Increased Training Engagement by 3.8x

Hato Hone St. John chose Bridge as a single solution for learning, talent development, and performance management, turning conversations into drivers of professional development and growth.

  • Company Hato Hone St. John
  • Industry Health Care
  • Region New Zealand
  • Company Size 12,000+
  • Use Cases Performance Conversations, Skills Development
90%
uptake of
1on1 conversations
2x
yearly
performance conversations
3.8x
increase in
training uptake
The Challenge

Creating Clearer Development Pathways for 12,000+ People

Hato Hone St. John is a trusted New Zealand charity that provides ambulance services, first aid training, and community programs. Run and staffed by people passionate about serving their communities and caring for New Zealanders, the organization is keen to keep employees’ skills sharp in a changing world while maintaining a positive, productive workplace culture.

As an organization, we’ve got this great talent within, and we need to develop them, keep them current, and keep them up to date with the way that the future is headed. We also have to anticipate how we need to shift and pivot as an organization to be successful in the future. We need to keep up with the times!

DC

Dalice Cossey
Culture and Engagement Specialist, Hato Hone St. John

The organization was also concerned about a possible increase in demand for talent in the near future and wanted to avoid unnecessary turnover and keep existing employees happy and productive by offering growth and development opportunities. These insights were reflected in engagement surveys, where employees stated that their professional growth was a key priority.

It came out of our engagement survey that growth was a focus area for the organization. We’ve got over 12,000 people, and we had people tell us that they have skills and talent, and they want pathways, but they don’t really know how to go about it.

DC

Dalice Cossey
Culture and Engagement Specialist, Hato Hone St. John

Against this backdrop, productive, positive, and encouraging performance and development conversations are a high priority for the organization. The organization was focused on improving the uptake of these crucial conversations across teams.

We knew from our engagement survey data and our conversations with leaders that people weren’t having 1on1s or performance conversations. We have an expectation that our leaders do regular 1on1s, but they’re doing them for the right reasons, and they’re understanding the benefits.

DC

Dalice Cossey
Culture and Engagement Specialist, Hato Hone St. John
Connect daily learning to long-term success.

Hato Hone St. John is a large and complex organization with diverse learner and admin needs. Ease of use and an all-in-one solution were considerations when it came to choosing an LMS. They also needed a solution that would facilitate their microlearning strategy, allowing learners to find and engage in bite-sized, media-rich content to support their professional development.

People want to grow and they want to learn, but they’re very time-poor. It’s about finding balance—allowing people the space to learn, but also the time to learn in a way that is accessible for them.

GJ

Gill Jackson
Learning and Development Specialist, Hato Hone St. John
The Solution

Bringing Learning, Skills, and Performance Together to Support Employee Growth

The organization was looking for a solution across the entire talent area—LMS, performance, and talent development—and chose Bridge to meet all of these needs.

 Complete with sophisticated skills features and the ability to offer personalized development plans, Bridge is helping Hato Hone St. John’s employees understand how to progress their careers and clearly link individual skills to development pathways. Bridge’s easy-to-use performance features are also perfect for encouraging regular, positive performance conversations.

We’re currently doing performance 1on1s twice a year. So in January or February, we have our mid-year check-in, and then in July-ish, we have our year-end process where everyone has a meeting with their manager. They talk about the previous six months to a year, what’s worked well, and any wins that they’ve had. And then we talk about the year ahead and what the goals are going to be and how they can support what we’re trying to achieve as an organization.

DC

Dalice Cossey
Culture and Engagement Specialist, Hato Hone St. John

Hato Hone St. John began relying on Bridge to keep development conversations on track so that employees would feel confident that their skills journeys are steadily progressing. By engaging in these discussions, employees understand what they want to achieve and give them a plan to get there.

We’re not making performance conversations compulsory. What we want to do is not just introduce a tool, but to build up that leadership skill set around why they’re important and how to do it in a way where your staff member feels valued and understands the benefit.

DC

Dalice Cossey
Culture and Engagement Specialist, Hato Hone St. John

Bridge is helping Hato Hone St. John build a culture of learning with just-in-time training, so the right content is shared just before it’s needed and stays top of mind when it’s most impactful.

They also use Bridge to upload and organize their large content library, host live training sessions, and keep workshop training organized, so links are easily available for any learner who wants to brush up on their skills on a given topic.

Because the organization is made up of both volunteers and full-time staff, the team takes advantage of the ability to upload recordings onto Bridge. Training sessions and workshops for full-time staff can be recorded, uploaded to the platform, and easily shared with volunteers in secure links.

The Impact

90% Uptake of Manager-Employee Performance Conversations in Bridge and a 3.8x Increase in Learning

Using Bridge, an LMS with performance management and upskilling capabilities, is helping managers keep conversations positive while developing their own leadership skills, and shifting the mindset from a stern, scary performance conversation to one that empowers employees. This has been a huge win, and uptake and completion of non-mandatory, semi-annual performance conversations is up to 90% across the organization (increasing from 55%, initially to 80%).

90% uptake
Of manager-employee 1on1 conversations.
2x a year
Non-mandatory performance conversations.
3.8x increase
In training uptake (12% vs. 45%).

We can do our development planning on Bridge as well. We use the performance part of Bridge as well as the 1on1 part of Bridge for goal setting. And that all helps to drive people to learning.

GJ

Gill Jackson
Learning and Development Specialist, Hato Hone St John

Because Bridge shows admins and leaders the complete picture of 1on1s conducted, they now have all the information they need to support keeping these crucial conversations on track and offer guidance when needed.

It’s given us a great view of the organization around how these conversations are happening and where they aren’t, so we can support our leaders a bit better.

DC

Dalice Cossey
Culture and Engagement Specialist, Hato Hone St. John

Performance conversations and goal setting in Bridge are driving people toward learning, with optional training modules supporting their professional development. Using Bridge, the organization has increased learning uptake by 3.8x—from 12% to 45%.

Give managers visibility into employee career development.
Company Snapshot
Hato Hone
St. John
  • Company Hato Hone St. John
  • Industry Health Care
  • Region New Zealand
  • Company Size 12,000+
  • Use Cases Performance Conversations, Skills Development

Bridge Is a Single System for Learning, Skills, and Performance

Bridge connects learning directly to job performance, turning a yearly, check-box exercise into a continuous cycle of learning and improvement with automated skills mapping for every job role, role-based career paths, personalized learning and mentorship recommendations.

L&D and HR teams get a framework for goal-setting, career development, and upskilling, surfacing data that shows how employees use skills in their roles and drive business performance. Managers can use this same framework to access development plans, skills feedback, performance conversations, and 1on1s, and drive development through coaching.

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Behind the Scenes

Bridge Gives Employees a Clearer Path From Learning to Development

Bridge's LMS, upskilling, and performance management solution
See how Hato Hone St. John is using Bridge to turn manager-employee conversations into growth.
1on1s that turn daily tasks into goals
Personalized development plans
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